PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu has concluded plans for a shake-up of his cabinet soon, which will include the appointment of new ministers and the creation of a new ministry, this newspaper gathered.
The new ministry will be for livestock development, a department hitherto under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, with the goal of driving the administration’s livestock master plan.
The Nigeria Livestock Master Plan, inaugurated in August, last year, was instituted to guide the development of the livestock sector which accounts for about one-third of the 21 per cent contribution that the agricultural sector makes to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
A source said the new ministry was expected to take the lead in addressing the perennial farmer-herder clashes that had continued to have a debilitating impact on the country’s food security, as well as led to the loss of thousands of lives and property.
Another source hinted that the president decided to create the new ministry to drive his idea of ranching as a solution to the problem, which he said would see state governments provide lands for the federal government for the project.
Sources told this newspaper that aside from the creation of the new ministry, the cabinet reshuffle would see to the appointment of state ministers for most or all the ministries that currently only had one minister. Recall that some Nigerians criticised the president for operating what they termed “an overbloated cabinet.”
But the president, at the inception of his administration last year, justified the size of the cabinet, which initially comprised 48 members, including the suspended Betta Edu and Simon Lalong who resigned to take up a seat in the Senate.
“If you combine too many ministries because you want to save money, you will have a future of non-performance and no results,” the president argued.
The development will also see to the appointment of ministers for ministries that only have a minister of state, like Labour and Employment, as well as a minister for the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation which Minister, Betta Edu, has been on suspension since January 8.
This newspaper reports that ministries without ministers of state are arts, culture and creative economy; foreign affairs; special duties and inter-governmental affairs; communications, innovation and digital economy; finance; marine and blue economy; solid minerals development; tourism; transportation; industry, trade and investment; innovation, science and technology; works; sports development; and women affairs.
Others are aviation and aerospace development; power; budget and economic planning; information and national orientation; justice; and Niger delta affairs.
This newspaper gathered that while the president is expected to act on the assessment report of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the ministers by his Special Adviser on Policy Coordination, Hadiza Bala-Usman, political calculations may affect or tamper with his decision.
Ms Hadiza could not be reached for comment on the status of her assessment as at the time of filing this report, but in April, she said the citizens’ delivery tracker launched by the federal government would use empirical data to evaluate the performance of the ministers.
Meanwhile, the tracker is said to be a component and not the only yardstick used for the assessment of the KPIs of the ministers.
One of the sources also disclosed that some ministers of state had been penned down for upgrade and that it was certain that some ministers would be dropped.
He said, “I can confirm to you that a former governor is among the ministers that will be dropped in the cabinet shake-up. There is also a minister of state that has been pencilled for upgrade.”
When contacted, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said, “I don’t know about any cabinet reshuffling. What I know is that the president is preparing to address the nation for the Democracy Day celebration, and on Thursday he will leave for Lagos to celebrate Sallah.”